This is misleading. Can you actually name one university which categorically refuses to take students who aren't yet 18? I don't know one, and I know that the vast majority of universities do take students who aren't 18. Bear in mind that it is very common for students to finish school at 17 in other European countries (e.g. France where grade skipping is quite common) and in Scotland.

What you need to do, though, is get all your ducks lined up in terms of next stages - so if the school has no 6th form, call the possible 6th form options and check their stance. I have had to do this for pupils who were registered in the year below their chronological age, to make sure that the next schools all the way up to 17 were prepared not to move the child back up to their 'correct' year, as that would have undone all the good the 'moving down' had done.

I skipped a year at primary school along with a handful of other kids (note to the poster suggesting pushy parents - mine have never been even remotely pushy, it was suggested by the school simply because we were ahead and getting bored in lessons).

We then moved when I should have been yr4 but was in yr5 and my new school didn't do the whole skipping a year thing so I re-did yr4 and carried on as normal from there.

The other 4 kids who'd skipped a year with me had issues when it came to secondary school as none of the local ones would agree to take them early. Three sets of parents gave up and their kids redid yr6, the other one really pushed and did complaints and spoke to the local papers etc until one did accept them.

I think things have changed a bit now though (I'm 26 so it wasn't forever ago but was a fairly long time) and it's more of a common thing. I'd second what others have said - just consider your local area and if the facilities are there for the school your friend plans for them to go to afterwards then it shouldn't be an issue.

You may find that Universities vary. The problem is that students under the age of 18 are still minors. London Universities are often quite good. They are used to students coming from other education systems who regularly accelerate bright students, and they have a higher proportion living at home. Such Universities will often have seperate (no alcohol) freshers events designed to allow younger students to meet each other, and give priority for suitable housing. Scottish ones also tend to be fine and many Scottish students will leave school at 17, though obviously their degrees take longer so are more expensive.

In recent years DD has known two 14 year olds and one 16 year old start University. None from English schools, though it is not unknown in private schools for kids to be a year in advance, though in our experience this has tended to be kids coming in from overseas who are already advanced.

But, stereotyping wildly, the set of parents enthusiastic about moving their child ahead is not disjoint from the set of parents enthusiastic about prestigious medical school.

You are stereotyping wildly. When I was at Cambridge as an undergraduate there were quite a few students who have been moved up by their schools, studying a wide variety of subjects and from a wide range of backgrounds. My DC's private school has a small number of children who have been moved ahead. They cannot be stereotyped as belonging to any particular ethnic group, nor are any of the ones I know aiming for medical school.

Most of my family were grade skipped, as my DC have been, and none of us encountered problems entering university early. I would not however recommend grade skipping without carefully thinking about the next steps, and I wouldn't do it at all unless it was advised by the school/ed psychs.

I have taught several pupils who have been accelerated through by one or even two years. The only problem I have ever met was with an overseas pupil who needed a guardian in the UK until she reached 18. I was her guardian.

The others had no problems at all, although it is up to each university.

I got moved up a year in the infants (mainly for the sake of the headteacher's sanity). Had no problems staying with the new age cohort when I moved up to secondary school, changed secondary school, went to college, and then up to university. The only downside is that I was somewhat socially immature hitting uni, which was not entirely in my favour.